DIRT FOR WEEDS

Now I know 2 posts in the same day is going to blow my daughter Penny from Living Above-Away, but I was reading Charles Spurgeon last night and he says in one of his Farm Sermons that we should go out into nature more often because that's where God put the first man and that being so He will connect with us there in so many different ways.  And also after reading "Lessons from Gumbo" also from  Living Above (Can you tell that I like Living Above)??  I decided to mow my yard this morning. I had used the weed eater but missed a tall blade of grass at the edge of the drive-way.  So I just bent down to pull it up the old fashioned way; you know hands & knees.

 And then came the lesson.

  It takes very little dirt for a weed to grow & flourish. Do you know that blade of grass that was causing such an unsightly view of my otherwise perfectly mown yard was in hardly no soil, just a little dirt and lodged between 2 rocks..Unbelievable!! However, if you want a plant to grow, especially one that will give you food, it takes good soil, fertilizer, water and lots of tending. So if you only want weeds in your spiritual life it doesn't take much.  Any old dirt or rock will do, no special food, and no tending.  Just do nothing and there you will have the best crop of weeds Satan can give you.  BUT if you want a flourishing crop of spiritual food you must first Know the Gardner and then sow your seed in His Word and just watch a crop of bountiful things grow, but not without tending everyday.

 Jesus has an excellent parable about this in Mark 4:1-9 . I won't go into it, but the words I will share with you from this story are: no depth and withered away.  Not words I want to be associated with!!

Remember it only takes a little doing nothing for a weed to flourish.  Pull them out everyday .. " All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing".. (Jim Elliott--I forget??? ) I know some of you out there will know who that was by.. 


Share with us:  How does your garden grow??

ANCIENT BOUNDARY LINES

God's Word is always relevant, but this morning as I ready Proverbs  22:28  which says:

"do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set"

my legacy theme just jumped out at me.  When we neglect our extended family ties this is basically what we are doing.  For years I have been "away" not estranged, but just unconnected with my 2 brothers and their families; and I only live one hour away from them.  But this year has been the year of reconnecting with them and it has been such a blessing.

  

Blog friends do not remove the ancient landmark which was set by your fathers.  No matter what... and I do realize there are a lot of "whats" out there to hinder this, but do all you can as often as you can to keep in touch with those that your fathers & mothers established for you.  There is a reason why God set you in that family and it was not just so you would have a sibling when you were young.  Our family ties mold us & are a tool for God to use in our lives.  Keep the home fires burning. 

REAL LIFE

Sometimes what we want to do and what we do, gets covered up by "real life".  I have been away for a few weeks now and I miss my connection in this "world".  However, there is a reason.  My work has been very hectic and my heart has been really heavy for a co-worker whose daughter is in a life threatening health situation. She has recently had a baby and she now has MRSA. It is still touch & go. So all of my extra energy has been given to prayer and support for this one in my life.  It is especially near to my heart because this young woman is my youngest daughters age (35).  To think that my Glenda or Penny could be in a situation like this just overwhelms me at times. But then I remember our great God, Jehovah- Rapha, our  Healer. I go to Him and find the comfort and energy I need to not only fill in for her mother at work, but stay the course in prayer.  So to all of Lanita'sLegacy followers please be patient.  I will return and after all, that's what legacys are made of --REAL LIFE....you have my heart...

THEN IT HAPPENED

These are the first 3 words from II Samuel 11:2 (NKJV).  As I have been preparing this week for my
Sunday School lesson on David and Bathsheba these words caught my heart and I've had a hard time getting past them.

So I want to share them with you all and maybe then I can move on the the real lesson.
However, these words are probably the "real" lesson for me individually.  When something
jumps out at you... it's usually what the Lord wants you to see.

This phrase is used 3 times in some form in the 11th chapter of II Samuel
 so that's a good indication that it is important.

In David's case he had just come home from many successful battles and life was good.
The only problem he was not where he was supposed to be.  You see the springtime was when kings went to war and David chose to stay home.
                                                 THEN IT HAPPENED!!
Things are great, all is well.  It's all good.  Life can't get any better.
                                                  THEN IT HAPPENED!!
If you know the story, you know that "IT" was David's gross sin with Bathsheba that
ultimately led to the breaking of 4 of the 10 commandments and this by the greatest king
Israel ever had... and "a man after God's own heart".

           But this is not the way THEN IT HAPPENED always is.  It could be that life is
as bad as we think it could possibly get.  Kids are driving us crazy to the point that we might
be even considering our sanity in even wanting them in the first place;
 or maybe you 're wondering whether the house note will be paid this month,
 or if it's really going to be beans & rice forever; or maybe your health is failing
or your marriage seems to be over.  Hang on THEN IT HAPPENED could be just around
the next dawn.

Something happened to change everything.  This is the way it was with David. His willful sin changed everything forever.  Forgiven yes, praise God yes, but the consequences lasted the rest of his life.

But God also changes our bad times too--just because He can & because He wills.  Have you ever had that experience?  You thought that life would never be any better and
                                                     THEN IT HAPPENED???
Night was turned into glorious day and everything changes? It might be that all that changes is
your attitude or perspective, but nevertheless life is abundant instead of redundantly unbarable.

I'd like to hear your    THEN IT HAPPENED  whether good or bad.
Because you see I happen to believe that we've all got some good & bad
                                   THEN IT HAPPENED-S
We must encourage each other and sharing our life experiences will do just that.

GOOD INTENTIONS OR GOD'S INTENTIONS

Just a short note tonight about our good intentions that might be:

                             Noble-----Logical------Uplifting----God Honoring---

But not God's Intentions or Purpose for our Life

In II Samuel  7 David wanted to build a Temple for God so he tells Nathan the prophet what he wants to do.  Nathan says:  "Sure go for it because I know God is with you"

The only problem is neither one had asked God about this God Honoring Project.

God makes it be known this is not for David to do, but his son Solomon.  So David
had to give up this dream.  For you see David's dream was too small. God had somthing much BIGGER and more important as His purpose for David's life.
                       God was going to build David a house (a dynasty)

In II Samuel 7 we find the Davidic Covenant... Which basically is God promising that there
will always be a decendant of David on the throne - FOREVER.
                    This is the "House" or lineage our Savior came from. Now David had the means. He could have said: "No, I'm gonna do this thing because in my eyes it's the right thing to do...And besides I need to build my legacy at this point"..(This is what a lot of our nation's leaders are doing instead of helping the country...oops, my politics are showing) He would have missed the great blessing God had for him and for us.
                                            
Have you ever had to give up on a dream because you realized that it was not
                                          GOD'S INTENTION for you to do it?????
How did you respond?  Check out how David responded... He sat before the
                                          Presence of the Lord and asked "Who am I"???

God desires that we be surrendered to his Purpose and not our Plans...Even if we have to
let go of a dream.
          Now I know this is hard, because I've had a few dreams I've had to let go of, but I have found that

Ephesians 3:20 is exactly correct.

"... He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us..."                


Oh that we would be surrender our Good Intentions 
for God's Intentions..  I would love to hear some of your surrendered dreams and how you
responded.  

BIRTHDAY BASH BLESSING

(Birthday Boy in Yellow)

Today is my oldest brother's birthday.  So yesterday I hosted a birthday dinner in his honor.

                                             He is 60 + 1

And even though the thought to do this didn't "hit" me until Tuesday, all but one of his family members were able to attend.  My kids & grandkids of course were not here because of distance & church obligations :(     but his were here, and after all it was his party.

As I was cleaning & and cooking for the late afternoon event I thought: "It feels like I'm cooking a Thanksgiving Dinner"----- Little did I know that before the day was over that would be exactly what it was---a Thanksgiving in July- legacy- making- day..

Now I am the oldest of three siblings.....


                           I am 60 + 2 (and proud of it)


First I must give credit to my precious sister -in- law for keeping us together after our parents died.  Thank you, Sis for teaching me-- I think I've finally got it now... For you see, besides the Lord, your family is the most important thing on this earth. Stay as close & connected as miles will allow & heh--today with so many technological ways to communicate, miles are only a small problem.
                                  
           We shared our intimate sorrows & and joys,
                       we reminisced about childhood pranks,
         we posthumously thanked our parents for our "raising",
                       the guys played washers in the back yard
       the gals played dolls--with the real live 9 mo. old doll (granddaughter) in the cool house
We picked, played, and sang some of the old hymns of the faith.                                                                                                                                      

Yes we did all of those things we used to do years ago before we got so techno-advanced.  I guess the only thing that we didn't do of yester-year was sit on the front porch and watch the cars go by and wonder: "where are they going so late in the evening"?... LOL !! What a blessing; but the thanksgiving part came at the end of the evening when my brother said:

"YOU KNOW SIS, IT'S ONLY AFTER IT ALL FELL APART THAT WE ARE FINALLY GETTING IT TOGETHER"


I do not have to go into all of the implications in his life that brought about that statement for some of you to understand exactly what he's talking about.  Most of us have been there.  But it takes courage to say it out loud, especially to your sister, and more especially to your God.

So if you feel that your life has fallen apart or if you are praying for someone whose life has fallen apart..

                            REJOICE AND BE EXCEEDINGLY GLAD...because God has got you, got them where He can put it back together again His Way.... which is the only way it will work..

No Thanksgiving day in November has been more joyous or more blessed than July 31st 2010 at my brothers 61st Birthday Bash.  I've only been praying for this day 45 years.  So dear ones, whatever you're praying for  ---- DON'T QUIT!!!

God has us all in the palm of His hands and

  "He makes all things beautiful in His time." Ecc. 3:11

HURRICANES

Well, Bonnie is making noise so I thought I would speak to you about hurricanes for a moment.  Through them I have learned that

       Perspective is Positively Paramount!!

I live in deep East Texas so I did not think I would ever know that much about this part of God's weather.                                                  
                                                                   Hurricane IKE

literally threw a tree into my bederoom and

                                                

Hurricane RITA 

was not that nice either.

It took us 9 months to recover from IKE and the only good we got out of RITA was after my daughter & two children fled Houston to my house and suffered through the worst hurricane they had ever experienced; we had a few- tree- falling- days bonding with them.

So my only history before these is that we would watch the track of a hurricane on TV and if it was tracking toward Florida or New Orleans we would sigh a sigh of relief and feel safe.
                                                            
                                     BUT I DO NOT FEEL THAT WAY ANYMORE!


 Why, you ask?  Perspective, remember? That same daughter and her precious ministry family have moved....  You guessed it!! :)                      
                                                              

 !!! NEW ORLEANS!!!

So no longer do we look to see if it's tracking to East Tx, but to New Orleans. So, what's your point you ask?    Just this. Whether your hurricane is a physical weather event or just the storms of L-I-F-E  

sickness,
               job loss
                            financial woes,
                                                    relationship wrecks,
                                                                                    depression,
                                                                                                      your weight, whatever---

Put them all in the right Perspective.  IKE has passed and I got a beautiful library out of that wrecked room, RITA has passed and a dangerous tree that I had wanted removed is gone.  BONNIE will pass too.  So will all the other "hurricanes" of our lives, but if we don't keep the right perspective we will miss the blessing from these sorrows.

There is also another life lesson.  Don't think just because you & yours are safe that there are not people in a pending storm.  God's Word tells us in Philippians 2:4: "Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.".  Pray for one another..Encourage one another.  We have no idea what is lurking out in the sea of this world gone crazy, but we can all help one another if we keep the right perspective.

The first time we went to New Orleans to see our daughter one of the first things she showed me was her hurricane preparedness box. You know water, batteries canned goods, etc. Well, LIFE hurricane riders know to have a hurricane preparedness box too.  This is what it must contain:

At least one Bible,
                              several prayer warriors,
                                                                at least one trust applicator,
                                                                                                          and oh yeah,

  ONE VERY BIG GOD!! 

       (however my God will not fit in a Box)

Love all ya'll in the eye of the storm where ever you are and whatever it's name is.

Power of Prayer

Just want to remind all of you out there that there is :                             


POWER
               
          in                            
                       PRAYER
                   
My Sunday School lesson was on this very subject and it was taken from I Samuel 22-23. Awesome words on how David prayed and God answered!  Period!  Done Deal!  Not always what he wanted to hear; but clear, specific, and no doubts it was from the LORD God.


Yea, yea, Grandmother we know this.   But don't forget to do it!   I knew I was going to have a rough week at work last week, so I rallied a prayer group to pray. I asked my Sunday School class of 8-10 ladies ( all over 65) and my 2 daughters.   

                                                                      Well, sure enough it was as rough as we anticipated; but around Wednesday everybody, even me, said:  "Why is everything going so much smoother than we thought?"  I just grinned :)  


                                                           Because well... I didn't want to speak too soon and embarrass the Lord.  LOL!  Silly me. The Lord can take care of Himself thank you very much.  You guessed it.  The rest of the week was great as well and I eventually told all my co-workers my battle strategy for the week.  


My point:  DON'T FORGET TO PRAY. I know some of you think, yea, I've tried that before and there's a cold silent wall..  Don't quit!!  You might not understand now, but God hears.  Some days it's like it was in I Samuel 22-23.  You ask-- He answers. Many ask: Why pray?? 


Because my sweet sisters it works, He commanded us to and there is :


POWER
              in
                 PRAYER

SEND THE LIGHT

We had a commissioning service tonight at church for several groups, young & old that are going on mission trips this summer.  

The countries are Eucador Japan, China, and Egypt.  

A small church from a small town in Texas sending out that many to spread the gospel!! Wow!! The ages ranged from 16-58.  Some have been on mission before, but for some, it is the first time.  

One person in particular that is the reason for my post is Carla.  I first met Carla when she was in the 7th grade and I was her Sunday School teacher.  She has had some rough roads in her life one of which was that her mother was murdered when Carla was just a teenager. She grew up,married and has grown children now.   She plays the keyboard in our church orchestra and has been very faithful.  Now tonight to see her giving her vacation to go on a mission trip just really inspires me. 

It is also very encouraging that as you get older you do not just quit.  

This is a very brave endeavor for a 50 something.  

The other thing that inspires me is that I have lived long enough to see those children that I have taught and watched grow up continue to give their lives for the eternal.  Now I know that she is not going to Egypt because of anything that I did in her life; but to have the blessing of getting to see this is just more than this  grandmother can believe the Lord would let me do!!   

 How great is our God!! I ask you to pray with me for these and all of those around the world that are giving of themselves to spread the gospel.  

This reminds me of one of my favorite verses : 

Deut.6:7 "You shall teach them(God's Word) diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up." 

That just about covers it. We are to teach the next generation God's ways or guess what?? There will not be a next generation of God followers.  

Let us be busy about that so that there will always be a Godly legacy.. 

Legacy Lines from One Year Bible

Ok, with a blog entitled Lanita'sLegacy I cannot let my readings in the OneYearBible this week pass by without a "legacy" comment.  II Kings 18-22 are so rich in legacy-leaving-lines.  II Kings 18:19-20: "This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?" This was asked by a pagan king to king Hezekiah.  What are we truly trusting in?  Is it really the Lord our God or--or-- what we can "finagle" (good East Tx word) or orchestrate on our own?? I fear we better get that settled because there are some trying days ahead.  But the verse I really want to hone in on is II Kings 20:6.  Hezekiah has become deathly ill, like just being diagnosed with terminal cancer.  Hezekiah prays for God to heal him & then sends Isaiah to tell him: I heard your prayer & and have  seen your tears." (oh, wow, that right there will preach & that's not even my point)!!! God, through Isaiah says in v.6: (I will add 15 years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. ..)  Now whether you are young, old, or in between; ill or healthy as a horse (another good East Tx term) ; what would you do with a guaranteed extra 15 years to your life??  If you read the "rest of the story" (loved that Paul Harvey)  which is found in II Kings 6:7-21, Hezekiah did not do so well with his allotment.. check out v.19 "Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "This message you have given me from the LORD is good." But the king was thinking, "At least there will be peace & security during my lifetime."  Here God had told the king through Isaiah about the Jews being carried into exile..but his comment reflects only thoughts about himself.. Are we concerned only that there is peace & security for us & ours??  Oh, how God wants us to be concerned about what we are doing with our years that will make a difference for eternity.  My response to this message to me from the Holy Spirit in my usual Daily Bible Reading is: "Woe is me for I am undone"! (Isaiah 6:3) God help us all.!!  But...take heart!! Today is the day the Lord has made, we still have opportunities to leave a legacy.  Make some memories today that will make a difference forever. 

Evaluation Grandmother Camp 2010

What an awesome God we serve.  I just wish I was smart enough to know how to post our little program on the web.  It was fantastic. When Papa gets his pictures from the camera to the computer I will post some pics.  I think I can do that.  The kids did not disappoint me.  All of them are such "hams". Why should I have worried?  A big thank-you to my awesome daughters and sons for allowing us to influence their children's little lives for a whole week.  It is amazing what you can teach children through song and art. My only worry is how will we top what God did this year??  Oh, yea, He will be here next year too!! I learned or re-learned that you do forget pain.  About Wed. I thought " I just don't know if I can continue to do this". But we made it through and then when they showed off so well what they had learned I knew it had to go on.  I will be putting all of you grandparents out there who are raising their grandchildren for whatever reason on my uppermost prayer list.  (For real- many of you are in my church).  Hats off and praise to these wonderful people. We did something different this year that I hope will become a tradition. Aunt Sharon and Uncle Sammy hosted us for a family picnic and reunion at their farm in Laneville.  It was  absolutely wonderful.  HEH! Aunt Sharon I know what.. you can have your own grandmother camp the same week that we do and then we can come together on Saturday for one big grand finale.. That is what God is doing with us here.  He is training us by growing us in families to live with Him in heaven forever.  Sure, there are sorrows along the way.  We have all had them, but we are not going to waste our sorrows, but instead learn from them . I truly believe that those who have had the most sorrows and learned the most from them are going to be way up there in heaven!! I will be honored to know you.  I learned that I am not suppose to C-O-V-E-T, but I do ask for your prayers as I come down from this heavenly place and back to work at the bank on Monday.  I know that God has had me there for all these years for something and I cannot slack off now.  In this too I must persevere until my days are done there so that I will be well pleasing in His sight whether I'm teaching my grandchildren the Ten Commandments or helping struggling souls with their filthy lucre (Bible-speak for money).  Leave a legacy--make memories everyday..

Grandmother & Papa Camp 2010-Midweek Progress

Well, this post will be brief, but I just wanted to pass along 2 valuable lessons this ole Grandmother has learned or maybe re-learned.  It is amazing what you can teach young clean, uncluttered minds.  That is why Jesus said: "Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not".  It is Wednesday and they know all of the Ten Commandments and most of them in order.  I can yell out Commandment number 3 :: And they can say: "Do not take the Lord's name in vain" or Honor God's name.  The second thing I have seen over and over is that it is the simple things that they learn the most from; unstructured play or as they say "free play"gives such opportunity for sharing and being kind and working out their own problems.  It is hard to just get out of the way and let them, but it really works.  I call them my "city mice" and they do not get much of this kind of time.   I know it is a different world that this generation of mothers and daddies are raising children in, but please for their sake let them think they are doing a few things on their own.  We never leave them unsupervised because you just can't do that today, but we do try to stay back a little and let them grow..  Well, we just fall into bed each night with precious little time to rest up for tomorrow, but we can see the end.  Tomorrow will be our last full day of God's Top Ten.  We must put together our "closing ceremonies" program.  Yes, it's gonna be so cute if they will cooperate and grandmother & papa will truly shine.  Yes, just a little pride oozing out there.  I'm sure God will remind Who is to get the glory.  Yes, it's Him and Him alone who deserves all the praise... Friday is the big day that they have all been waiting for.  Not the Ten Commandments, not staying up late, not eating anything anytime they want, not the zoo, or even swimming at Bro Wayne's & Ms Donna's pool.  But are you ready for the best thing they are going to get to do.  Go to the movies & see Toy Story 3!!!.  Yep, I told you they were city mice.  But praise the Lord how I love them.  Even if they love Woody & Buz Lightyear more than Thou shall not covet!!.  I will give the grand finale a little later next week.  I do have another week of vacation to rest up.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!

Grandmother & Papa Camp 2010 doesn't officially begin until Monday June 14th... but we get the first installment of campers tomorrow night and the other 2 Saturday morning.  All of you bloggers out there please pray for traveling safety as we do the grandkid shuffle. Then of course pray for us as we attempt to have one glorious week learning God's Top Ten aka the Ten Commandments.  But most of all pray that we will build memories that age & time will not erase.  Stay tuned!! If time and stamina will allow I will be sharing as the week progresses!!

When Leaders Fail

Today I want to talk to you a little about the lesson I had to teach on Sunday.  It was taken from I Samuel 2-3.  This is the story of  the priest Eli and his 2 wicked sons and the boy Samuel that delivers God's message of judgment on them.  The moral of this story is: Parents correct your children when they are young or God just might have to take you and them out!! Not a pleasant lesson indeed.  We look around today and see many leaders that are failing.  Financial, political, and yes, even religious leaders are failing God and this nation.  But do you realize that you too are leading somebody!!. None of us are exempt from that role.  Moms those children are watching and listening.  Dads those children and wife are watching and listening.  God gave Eli many chances to do the hard thing and discipline his boys, but he turned a blind eye and a deaf ear.  God finally had to raise up a young boy to deliver a message of judgment to this servant of God. The verse that was so convicting to me was I Samuel 2:23: "Why do you do such things"? Now this was a question that Eli asked his boys.  We have all asked our children this question.  You know the answer we always get is :  "I don't know"!  Well, the Holy Spirit asked me this week: Has God ever asked you this question?  He has!! Why do you do some of the things that you know is not on my approval list?  Why do you procrastinate in doing those hard things that you do not want to do?  Why Lanita, do you do such things?  You can fill in the blank for your life.  But just as the case with Eli and his sons, it is not sufficient to just ask the question.  You must determine to DO those things that are pleasing to Him and will make a difference in your family's life.  We must be the leaders that God has called us to be.  The risk is too great and the consequences too severe to not do those things that make a difference now and for all eternity.  We do not want to be leaders that fail.  It was Israel's downfall and I fear America's too.  But it all starts in the home with the family. Next week is : When Religion Fails. Can't wait to see how God is going to direct my thoughts in that area.  Be the leader God wants you to be and your legacy will last.

Memorial Day & Grandmother & Papa Camp

Our Pastor encouraged us on Sunday to be sure and remember those who gave their lives for our country along with whatever else we were going to do on this Memorial Day holiday.  As I was going through some old pictures and other stuff in my "craft room", I came across some old pictures of "Papa Glen" as he was serving our country.  I stopped and prayed a prayer of gratitude not only for his service, but for the fact that he was sitting downstairs in his recliner and that I was not in some cemetery placing flowers on his grave.  Many wives did that today. Help us all that are free, to remember why.  On a lighter note:  I did make great headway in getting ready for the yearly event known as Grandmother Camp. I put together the music and the main craft. So, heh, bring'em on...Then I stopped to check the ole blog and saw that my family and friends are supporting me as usual. Thank you.  Now I will ask you to pray that Papa & I will have the stamina to make the week.  Especially Papa, because you see the week before camp he has Vacation Bible School with a room full of 3&4 year olds at church.. Wow!! What a guy... Our 4 "grands" will come with all parts fully engaged and their will be precious little down time.  Let the games begin. I can't wait.  Praise the Lord I will have another week of vacation left to rest up before going back to work. Whew!!

Grandmother & Papa Camp 2010

One of the best things that we are doing to lengthen our legacy is Grandmother Camp.  We started this four years ago and it is a time when all 4 grandchildren come to Grandmother & Papa's for a week of fun and learning about God and His Kingdom.  I took the idea from a great Christian minister Esther Burroughs.  We always have a camp theme so that we have a learning base during the week.  Year one was "Down by the Creekbank" and we learned about God's world through the old Dottie Rambo kids musical of the same name. Year two was I-Hymns and they all got  I-Pods and we learned old classic Baptist Hymns; you know the ones we hardly ever sing anymore.  Year three was "Facebooks" and we learned the books of the Bible through the faces of the men who wrote them.  This fourth year is "God's Top Ten" and we are going to learn the Ten Commandments. Because regardless of what is or is not politically correct, they are still God's Law and very relevant for all ages today. It is a very intense week for the grandparents because we are 60-something and the youngest grandchild is 3, but it is such a blessing to watch these 4 children who rarely get to see each other come together right where they left off and have a wonderful time together. I pray that we will have the bodily stamina to continue this tradition as long as they will come. I do realize that the time will come when they will not want to come, but hopefully that is a few years away.  So young mothers encourage your children's grandparents to start a time of baby sitting made meaningful by throwing in a little Bible learning.  Even if they do go to their church's Vacation Bible School, that's is still precious little time in God's Word .  One more week would certainly be great.  It is not all Bible stuff though.  We go to the zoo, we go to friends gardens and pick peas, we go to the movies and we play games and crafts. Oh, the crafts are the best.  My oldest daughter Penny asked 6-year old Jordan what her favorite time at grandmother Camp was and she said.  "Craft-time in Grandmother's craft room".  I have a large room upstairs that used to be a sewing room and now it has become the craft room.  We have a 4x8 table to work on and plenty of space to do just about whatever. Penny then asked Jordan why that was her favorite time and she said: "Because that's where we learn about Jesus."  Well, friends that's why we do it.  That will take me at least 5 or 6 more years!! Make memories today with your children and then one day they will make memories for your grandchildren.  
I close out this post with the verse of Scripture that is my Biblical guide for this special week of our lives.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7:  "Hear, Oh Israel! The Lord is our God, the LORD alone.  And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all you soul, and all your strength.  And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today.  Repeat them again and again to your children.  Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again.    
 TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!
   

The Legend Behind Lanita's Legacy

It is really a short story, not a legend.  My daughter Penny Franklin-Living Above Ministries-seems to think that I have something to offer women out there in blog land.  And I do have a heart for young women who seem to think they are not going to make it for one reason or another.  I also have a burdened heart for the Christian family who I fear will not make it without a return to the Word of God and a lot of encouragement from those of us with grey hair and sagging chins. Those of us who have been through many waters and  more that a few fires.  When my mother went to be with the Lord at age 62 (my age now) I realized that I was in process of my legacy for my girls (now women). I am a Sunday School teacher of women older than I am. I love to read and have built quite a library over the years and I thought that was my legacy. But I am beginning to realize that those books are just the material side. The real legacy is all that God's Holy Spirit has taught me and stored inside this often fragile heart of mine. That is what wants to reach out and let you see that even a Much-Afraid pilgrim can make it to the high places with Him as our guide.  We all just need a little grace and glory as we experience sorrow and suffering in this training ground below. Whatever legacy we want to leave behind, we must remember we're making it now.  I want mine to be loving and learning our Lord. Join me on this journey .